I think how much you have to do depends on how much automation you have set. In my current long running game I’ve gone back and forth on how much to automate and have ended up automating a lot of things. Much of the decision to automate has been that it otherwise seemed like busywork and also because there was no downside to doing so - I am dominating the region regardless of if I let the AI make decisions or I do it so I may as well not worry about armies, espionage or exploration. Even where I have to approve I am just hitting yes 90+% of the time.
I think my greatest disappointment in DW2 so far is that it honestly feels like I bought DWU again but with less content but improved UI. It’s been a few years since I played DWU but I don’t know that I can point to anything that feels much different. The technology is pretty much the same - I am researching exactly the same techs, just with maybe a little variation on what is available. I am generally just watching 100s of dots move around my empire doing busywork. I see the same space monsters. The same races (though less of them playable). The early game pirates are doing the same thing and even want exactly the same amount of protection money (that they never escalate on as my economy grows - poor business sense Mr. Privateer). It even seems like they’re going with the exact same big bad guys. I really wonder what the last number of years was spent on - this could have been a reskin of DWU for the most part from what I am seeing.
I’ve been using this as a palate cleanser between Elden Ring sessions but I am just not sure I have any interest in returning. I know this likely causes Brian great pain to hear but I found a recent return to Stellaris with all its various expansions far more engaging. Sure, there is no private economy where freighters are out doing their thing and there aren’t 100+ goods to mine. However, there is far more engaging diplomacy, more meaningful differences between races and ethics beyond minor percentages, and a variety of grand threats, asymmetric empires. etc.
Anyway this has moved on to rambling but I guess I am just really disappointed in the purchase. Maybe its on me for having too much nostalgia for when I got to play DWU as a new game. Maybe I’m just not interested in that game anymore so getting more of almost exactly the same was a poor decision on my part. I’ve long thought I would absolutely love a new Sword of the Stars even if it just had updated graphics but maybe that wouldn’t be as true as I think. Food for thought I suppose.
I’m glad someone else said it first. I assumed it was because I hadn’t played enough of a campaign yet, but I’ve had this nagging voice at the back of my mind asking what the hell is actually new, besides the “3D” graphics?
The latest patch, 1.0.2.7, is very zippy - they’ve tinkered with the multi threading and it’s very noticeable. Fleet behavior is also much improved.
Of course the game still has it’s issues. I’m enamored with it, but understand why others may not be. Just noting the devs are burning the midnight oil and making big strides.
So I heard back from Erik. He looked at my saves and says the civilian economy is working as intended. This kinda shocked me. I asked him to make it clearer to the player how it’s working if it is working as intended.
So I asked Erik if I could have more visibility on the civilian economy and this is his response.
"Understood. As I mentioned in my forum reply, throughout DW1 and DW2 we’ve tried many different optimizations for the private sector and how it works. If a location needs say 100 of a particular luxury resource and there is 1000 of it at the mining station, but other worlds also need 100 or 200 or 300, then if the first freighter grabs everything it can, it takes much longer for those other worlds to get what they need. The same can happen with construction resources.
Now, there may still be bugs in the DW2 private sector or issues we’re not aware of, but I am not seeing any in the specific save you provided. If it’s just that freighters were traveling without using much of their cargo space, that is not a bug.
Ultimately the person controlling the state, the player, wants to be see that the resources they need are where they should be when they need them. The biggest frustration we’ve seen is when the private sector is taking too long to move resources to where they need to be. Thus while freighters do fill up sometimes, more often we lean towards getting what’s needed where it’s needed as quickly as possible. This generally results in the resources showing up in about the time the player expects.
We’ve tweaked this many times and we’re fairly happy with how it’s working now, but if we find any bugs or ways to further optimize it to match the player’s expectations on speed of delivery while also allowing freighters to fill up a bit more, we will.
FWIW, freighters mostly did the same thing in DW1, you just had much worse visibility into the private sector in DW1. DW2 makes it much easier to see what all the freighters are doing at any given time and that’s a plus, but it can also create more questions. The resource overlay and the freighter list can really let you see what’s going on and where it’s generally flowing from and to at a glance as DW1 never could easily do.
The main things we’re planning to add more visibility on is trade. There’s some through the diplomacy and economy menus but there needs to be more."
Erik’s response makes sense to me. I suppose one gripe would be freighters design should downsize to match the average load they carry, but I think that would probably look wrong to the player too.
In real life people may also get upset about largely empty cargo ships and planes moving around the world, but it does happen occasionally for good reason.
Edit: remind me what was your exact concern? Partially full freighters moving around?
So I started my current game right smack in the middle of a spiral galaxy, with nebulas and grumpy neighbors all around me. It’s all very interesting, but for a learning game, I’m kinda wishing I’d started on the side of the galaxy. I sorta breezed by that option without thinking about it. Still, I think I’ll stick with it. I am getting a lot of practice fighting. And I’m learning that colonizing a marginal planet really does have big costs. Is it worth the space station and refueling spot? Years later, I’m still not sure. I see this as a good aspect of the design. :)
Like @AK_Icebear, I’m enamored of the game, flaws and all. Yes, the innovations are incremental, not revolutionary, but I’m still enjoying them. I like that exploration has several layers, and I’m far from done exploring local systems even after a couple of passes with upgraded explorers. I like the random-techs-missing thing, mostly, though I wish there were more granular options for it. I like the nebula terrain, even if it’s sometimes too punitive in the early game; supposedly AI nebula-pathing is improved in a recent patch. I like that I can see the UI better than in DW1 and DWU. The font and scaling in that series was hard for me to read.
I hope they give some more thought to larger innovations for DLC, as Stellaris has. But I’m still having tons of fun with this.
If it’s any consolation I’ve started three campaigns on the edge and you’ll probably not be surprised to hear you rather quickly discover you’re boxed in the corner by other majors.
Finally started playing this. It’s been awhile since I played DW, but I notice a few things:
In 6 hours, I finally saw my first crash. Autosave was a godsend.
More resource types in this game - I’m not really sure the game needed more, but …
Playing 1000+ hours of DW helped, but the game definitely has a learning curve. So far, I’ve enjoyed it.
Codeforce continues to patch the game. I have to think they’ll squish all the bugs and repair whatever isn’t up to snuff.
Glad to hear you’re enjoying it. I am too! I’ve now got 70 hours in, and I’m getting the hang of things, but wow it’s a complex game. Yes, it’s very stable for me too. For my first game, I chose a relatively small galaxy, 300 stars; I have an old system.
@easytarget , I’m still playing my original game, in which I started in the center of the galaxy. I’m the sad pale blue human civ in the center of this screenshot, lol.
That’s the diplomacy overlay, by the way. What do all the little colored balls mean? I know those with circles around them are colonies. I suppose the other ones are mining stations, research stations, etc?
I’ve been fighting one defensive war after another. As usual, I tend to turtle in these games – I hate declaring war! It seems so…wrong! But I did at least wipe out my local pirate faction. Which was no pushover, I might add.
My diplomacy has been slow and over-cautious, as money is always a concern. I’ve been stumped on how to research the very expensive diplomatic techs, but now I have a spy who is good enough that she can steal it – if I target the civ whose language I’m trying to learn. I guess that makes sense.
Also, I don’t seem to be able to zoom out to see the entire galaxy at once. Is that common? I’m in 1920 x 1200 resolution. The delete key zooms me out somewhat; the mousewheel a bit more. It’s not a big deal, but it’d be nice to take a shot of the whole shebang at once. It’s a beautiful game, in its own way.
yes! it is! don’t know about your issue with zooming… i can zoom out all the way… but i’m only on 300 stars. i think you’re right about the colored balls
Good to hear. I am putting the game off, but hoping the problems get taken care of in the not-too-long run.
How much are you automating? And which aspects of the game push the envelope in terms of complexity? It is a little concerning that 70 hours in you would still feel that way.
